Racism and Slavery in America
Aishani Khurana
18th March 2013
America in the era of slavery
The Origin of Race and Slavery in North America
The origin of race and slavery in North America is often viewed chronologically. Historians are divided on their stance as to whether or not racism may be considered as the root cause of slavery. While some agree on this, others argue that slavery in fact had nothing to do with the origins of racism and that in retrospect, slavery when legalized actually facilitated racism. However, the question is not one of precedence because essentially the social differences including rituals, religion, and language along with inequalities of power between the Europeans and Africans together gave way to racism and slavery. Hence it would be wrong to divide North America in the seventeenth century into the two binaries of race and slavery and consider these realms as mutually exclusive. It was not just racism that made Africans slaves or slavery that made Europeans racist. Rather, the interaction of differences in race and power structure created a realm where each overlaps and influences one other.
The two arguments presented by scholars are true yet they are contradictory if viewed from the perspective of causality. This suggests that for both the standpoints to hold true, the occurrence of racism and slavery had to be during the same period in history, not preceding one another. Thus, this paper explores the idea that slavery and racism cannot be seen in a relationship of causality. Instead, slavery and racism are iterative terms, i.e. they are the products of a large number of small unconscious acts and interactive social engagements. As Canessa asserts that “each iteration reinforces or undermines a particular identity, but any single act is unlikely to have a major effect”, it suggests that neither racism or slavery preceded each other, but rather they developed and influenced each other as a result of the interactions between Europeans and Africans.
18th March 2013
America in the era of slavery
The Origin of Race and Slavery in North America
The origin of race and slavery in North America is often viewed chronologically. Historians are divided on their stance as to whether or not racism may be considered as the root cause of slavery. While some agree on this, others argue that slavery in fact had nothing to do with the origins of racism and that in retrospect, slavery when legalized actually facilitated racism. However, the question is not one of precedence because essentially the social differences including rituals, religion, and language along with inequalities of power between the Europeans and Africans together gave way to racism and slavery. Hence it would be wrong to divide North America in the seventeenth century into the two binaries of race and slavery and consider these realms as mutually exclusive. It was not just racism that made Africans slaves or slavery that made Europeans racist. Rather, the interaction of differences in race and power structure created a realm where each overlaps and influences one other.
The two arguments presented by scholars are true yet they are contradictory if viewed from the perspective of causality. This suggests that for both the standpoints to hold true, the occurrence of racism and slavery had to be during the same period in history, not preceding one another. Thus, this paper explores the idea that slavery and racism cannot be seen in a relationship of causality. Instead, slavery and racism are iterative terms, i.e. they are the products of a large number of small unconscious acts and interactive social engagements. As Canessa asserts that “each iteration reinforces or undermines a particular identity, but any single act is unlikely to have a major effect”, it suggests that neither racism or slavery preceded each other, but rather they developed and influenced each other as a result of the interactions between Europeans and Africans.